Yemen Opposition Seeks Formal Declaration That Saleh No Longer President

By Donna Abu-Nasr and Mohammed Hatem -
Jun 8, 2011

Yemen’s opposition is urging the vice
president to formally declare he has assumed the duties of
President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is abroad recovering from
injuries, to prevent him from returning to power.

“The president is no longer president,” Mohammed al-
Mutawakkil, a member of the main opposition Joint Meeting
Parties, said in a telephone interview from the capital, Sana’a.
“He’s out of the game.” Al-Mutawakkil said the group will give
Vice President Abduraboo Mansur Hadi a few days to “resolve
this issue.”

Saleh was wounded June 3 during a rocket attack on his
presidential compound. He is recuperating in a Saudi military
hospital, with burns on his face and 40 percent of his body
according to U.S. officials, and has temporarily relinquished
his powers. By pushing Hadi to declare himself as acting
president, the opposition is seeking to usher in a process of
transition and close the door to an extension of Saleh’s rule.

After months of anti-government protests, fighting in the
Arabian Peninsula country escalated in the past two weeks when
Saleh refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council plan calling
for him to step down within 30 days and turn leadership over to
Hadi in exchange for immunity from prosecution. It was the third
time GCC-led talks had failed.

Saudi Plan

Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s neighbor and the biggest GCC country,
said after a June 6 Cabinet meeting chaired by King Abdullah
that the proposal is still viable, and called on Saleh to accept
it. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, will also
send Yemen 3 million barrels of oil to alleviate fuel shortages,
Yemen’s state news agency Saba reported yesterday.

Saleh’s supporters say he is still head of state and will
return soon in that capacity. The opposition says his departure
means that the first part of the GCC plan has taken place.

The Joint Meeting Parties says it will form a transitional
council to “represent the political leadership of Yemen’s
revolution” unless Hadi acknowledges his new position. The
council would seek international recognition and organize local
elections in parts of the country Saleh doesn’t control, al-
Mutawakkil said.

A representative of the youth protesters who began the
anti-Saleh demonstrations in January called for the
establishment of transitional councils and demanded that Hadi
choose “whether he is with the revolution or against it.”

‘Part of Regime’

Tawakul Karaman, speaking at a news conference in Sana’a,
reiterated the protesters’ opposition to the proposed GCC
accord, a position they have maintained since the agreement was
first made public. She said if the Joint Meeting Parties decided
to participate in a unity government, as stipulated in the pact,
its members would be considered “as part of the regime.”

Hundreds of protesters continued a sit-in they began
yesterday in front of Hadi’s home to demand the establishment of
a transitional governing council.

Hadi has not publicly indicated any shift to the opposition
camp. He called on all Yemeni leaders yesterday to “join
hands” and lift the country out of crisis, Saba said.

U.S. officials said yesterday that Saleh’s injuries are
worse than has been reported by Yemeni officials and state
media, raising doubts about his ability to return soon. The U.S.
yesterday called on Yemen’s leaders to proceed with a transition
of power.

“The instability and lack of security afflicting Yemen
cannot be addressed until there’s some process that’s going to
lead to the economic and political reforms” that demonstrators
are seeking, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

Meanwhile, fighters loyal to Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, head of
the influential Hashid tribal confederation, have withdrawn from
five government buildings they occupied during more than a week
of clashes with Saleh’s security forces, Abdulqawi al-Qaisi, al-
Ahmar’s spokesman, said by telephone. He said the move was in
line with a Saudi-brokered truce.